We've been to Kielder 3 times; each time we've done a lap of the lake on our bikes and each time it's been different. Mainly because the first time we both had grotty bikes, the second time my gears failed and this time we both had new(ish) bikes. Each time though the weather has been perfect - beginning to think it never rains here...
This time we also managed a trip up to the observatory for a crystal clear night of stargazing. Got up close and personal with the moon and also saw Uranus, Neptune and a distant binary star system - if you're heading this way it's certainly worth a visit.
Today's lap of the lake was largely uneventful apart from my persistent ranting about Tower Knowe wanting to chargd £6.95 for a jacket spud with beans. I'm all for supporting local shops etc. but £6.95 for something that costs around 70p to make? Clearly I'm getting old and grumpy before my time.
That aside the weather was perfect and the views magnificent - just hope I'm not too worn out as we're planning to stay up till 3am watching the lunar eclipse. If anyone wants me tomorrow morning I'm likely to be in bed...
I don't very often get all environmental but here's a scary fact to start off this blog. Whenever we visit Kielder we're blown away by the size of the place so I've done a little checking and discovered that at 250 square miles Kielder Forest is the largest working forest in England - impressive.
Then I did a little more digging and found out that every single day over 337 square miles of rainforest are destroyed. That's roughly 1.4 Kielders every single day. Impressive, but in a whole different way.
Our campsite this time was the result of a mistake last time. On our last visit we were booked into Leaplish campsite but turned up at Kielder campsite instead, which we really rather liked the look of so promised to return on our next trip, which we duly did. There's nothing wrong with the Leaplish site per se, it's just that the pics make it look as though you have lovely views of the lake, but the reality is that only a few pitches have lake views and the rest are buried deep in the woods.
Kielder Campsite on the other hand doesn't promise any views of the lake but does have gorgeous big open spaces to pitch up, a perfectly pleasant toilet block (really, there's only so much you can say about a toilet block) and the village and pub just around the corner. It's also part of a project to reinvest in the local community and that's always going to go down well with us.
So enough of my jibber jabber - here are 5 good reasons why you should visit Kielder.
1. The dark skies.
The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) claim that these are the darkest skies in England. The area designated as the Northumberland International Dark Sky Park covers 580 square miles and is the largest dark sky protected are in Europe. (Not far off twice the area of rain forest destroyed every day - no I'm not letting it drop).
With minimal lighting on the campsite (another plus over Leaplish) you can enjoy the skies from the comfort of your tent/ van, just so long as the muppets next door don't have their extra bright external light switched on all evening, even though they're out...
You can also book events at Kielder Observatory but book well ahead as they tend to be very popular.
2. Cycling
A cycled lap of the lake is the thing to do here - it's enough of a challenge without being over the top, plus there are lovely art installations the whole way around which are both a pleasant distraction and the perfect excuse for a rest.
We are infrequent hobby cyclists and our advice is to tackle the north side of the lake first - it's the hilliest and most challenging so best get it done while you have fresh legs. The south side is less hilly and has the added advantage of the visitors centre & cafe at Tower Knowe and the bar at Leaplish to help you along your way. We also recommend padded cycling shorts...
Not sure what this one is called but "how it feels to be a ready meal" would
be my guess.
The craziest crazy golf
Now you see me, now you see me, now you see me
The route around the lake is very well signposted so it's pretty much impossible to get lost. There are also plenty of warning signs for steep downhill sections, though heaven knows why, the down hill bits were fine, it was the up hill bits I needed advance warning of.
3. Hiking
There are dozens of forest tracks and trails to keep you distracted here. None of them have the immense climbs of the Lake District, but all of them are prefect for family rambles.
The walk up to the observatory is well worth a go - the grounds are open throughout the day even if you don't have tickets for an event. Plus there's another art installation nearby (Skyspace) which as well as being a lovely piece of art, is also an ideal stopping spot for a flask of tea and some sarnies.
4. Wildlife
Red Squirrels, Osprey and Goshawks are the stars of the show, but as with all stars can be difficult to glimpse (apart from the stars in the skies overhead that is). Over the few days we were there we spotted a number of buzzards, the occasional red squirrel and several dozen other birds we're unable to name because they didn't sit still long enough for us to get our book out. This fella did though.
We didn't get any close up pics of red squirrels this time - but this one Steve took the last time we were there would have been hard to beat anyway.
5. Peace and quiet
It can be hard finding an escape from the hustle and bustle, but Kielder is so big that there's always somewhere you can go to get away from everyone else (not the cycle route around the lake, that's pretty much busy the whole time). I'm thinking of places like this
And this
And this
And this
And this
And finally this...
If Kielder forest vanished in the space of 1 day we'd all be pretty darned angry. So if, like me, you're still a wee bit horrified at the amount of rainforest vanishing every single day, here are a number of practical steps we can all take to help make things a little better.
Another place we'd vowed to return to was Kielder - following our spectacular introduction to the area courtesy of the Calvert Trust we'd promised to return early in 2014 before the midges took up residence. It's nothing personal, I'm just allergic to them and do a great impression of a puffer fish if I get too many bites.
On day 1 it peed down so all we managed was a hike and a bouncy boat ride. On day 2 a dose of insomnia was put to good use when I decided to nip down to the lake shore to watch the sunrise over the lake and commune with the red squirrels.
Daybreak over Kielder
After a bacon roll to bring me back to my senses it was back to re-visit the Calvert Trust to try our hands at the bits of the climbing wall which had previously defeated us and to tackle the Velcro Olympics which we'd missed on our first visit.
Steve made it look easy.
I think the climbing wall was meant to be the main event, but personally I was counting down the seconds until I could have a go on the giant inflatable Velcro Olympics. And don't try telling me it's just for kids - 8 Velcro suits and only 2 of them in kids sizes? I rest my case. Mind you while the kids raced through 10 or more times we were knackered after 4 attempts - the moral of the story clearly being that a diet of coco pops, Nutella and ice cream is what's needed next time I'm out on the fells.
Winner got the camera, loser got their photo taken...
On day 3 we took to our bikes for a lap of the lake. 27 miles all told but with plenty of excuses to stop along the way. The assorted art installations impressed and bemused us in equal measure but most are practical as well as pretty which means there's always somewhere to have your flask of tea and your sarnies.
Belvedere ("Good View" in Italian)
The Janus Chairs were our clear favourite - can't think why...
View from the Janus Chairs
After a soggy start we had excellent weather which is perhaps as well as it's an energy sapping ride for hobby cyclists like us. Having spent the day enjoying such a wonderful free spectacle we thought it only right and fair to donate some of tourist pounds to the support the local breweries - a vital part of the nation's economy...
Luckily Steve knew that Helen Keller quote was one of my mantras before he married me, so it came as no surprise to him when I suggested we round off celebrations for our 10th wedding anniversary by dangling from ropes high above the ground courtesy of the Calvert Trust in Kielder.
The Calvert Trust are well known for the fantastic work they do with people with a whole range of disabilities, though I think "disability" is the wrong word to use in this context. At the Calvert Trust they are far more focused on what people can do, rather than what they can't and their superb facilities at Kielder Forest are open to absolutely everyone.
I was particularly impressed by their inventiveness. Whilst they have an extensive range of equipment, some of their guests require kit that simply isn't available from main stream suppliers so they get their guests and their suppliers together to devise a solution; whether that be a bespoke seat for those who require a little more support on the King Swing or an entire section of purpose built climbing wall. In short the Calvert Trust remove all of your physical excuses for not having a go leaving you with just your mind to battle.
We had one mission on our visit: whatever they suggest, say "yes". So during the course of our day we said "yes" to a climbing wall, a zip wire, laser clay shooting, high ropes, a leap of faith, balancing on a high pole and the exhilarating if slightly stomach churning King Swing. We also said "yes" to superb sausage and mash and a second helping of finest rice pudding known to man. All of their food is sourced locally and cooked fresh on site so if you stay with them for an adventure week pack something with an elasticated waist.
Pete Coulson was our guide for the day and we were in very capable hands. First stop was the climbing wall where he started us off gently enough but then soon had us tackling the trickier stuff. They don't let anyone off lightly here and are determined to push you to challenge all of your limits, as I discovered when I faltered near the top of one of the trickier climbs. "I'm done" I shouted down. "Oh no you're not" said Pete "Take a rest and then have another go." I'm very glad I did; the sense of achievement is so much greater when you've really had to push yourself.
With aching arms and huge grins we left the climbing wall for a quick zip along the zip wire before trying our hands at laser clay shooting.
The guns are the real deal but have been modified to fire only infra red beams so no clay pigeons were harmed in the making of this blog. To be fair my aim was so bad that even if they'd been fully loaded with live ammo the "pigeons" would still have gotten off very lightly, though the passing cyclists may have had to duck for cover. Thankfully Steve managed a decent enough score, his years of practice on Halo obviously paying off.
Following a sumptuous lunch of home made soup and chicken pie it was out on the high ropes course. We'd seen it as we arrived the previous evening but I swear the poles had grown another few metres overnight. This is a fantastic activity to push you to your physical and mental limits; you are so well strapped in that no possible harm can come to you, but 40feet up in the air it really doesn't feel that way. We scrambled across cargo nets, balanced on high wires, swung across the swings and wobbled along poles before dropping to the ground via the free fall parachute descender.
But was that enough for us? Oh no! We then decided the "Leap of Faith" was the thing to try. The "Leap of Faith" involves climbing to the top of a very tall, very wobbly pole and then leaping off to catch a trapeze bar. Obviously we looked a little too smug with the success of our first attempt so Pete moved the bar further away. In full view of a car load of spectators I missed but thanks to all the safety ropes I suffered nothing more than a bruised ego - fueling my determination to go back and have another go.
To round the day off we were taken to the King Swing. Whilst we'd been on the high ropes we'd watched a group of people in wheelchairs get strapped into a special harness and winched to a height of around 30ft where they then dropped like a stone as they pulled the release cord before swinging to a halt. The whole thing looks harmless enough as you watch from the sidelines but is a lot more terrifying once you've been winched high in the air and the only way out is down. Well, that's my excuse for screaming in the video anyway...
Utterly exhausted, both physically & mentally we headed back to the car. The day had been spectacular beyond our expectations and truly epic in every sense of the word. If you're looking for high adventure then I would strongly recommend paying them a visit. They have a range of drop in days coming up where you can just stop by and have a go for only £10 per person per activity. Check out this link for more information.
Finally I would just like to thank Pete for being our guide for the day and everyone else at the Calvert Trust for the magnificent work they do and for giving us a day we will never forget.
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